18 Instead Of 20, But I’m Ok With It

Last year, the day of my 20 miler, 3 weeks before Marine Corps, it rained. It hadn’t rained on a Sunday all summer long but it rained on that Sunday. But it was a light drizzle. This Sunday, 3 weeks before Marine Corps, it rained again. Only it was a heavier rain and it looked like lightning. Treadmill time!!

who wants to go out in the rain anyway?

You know, I didn’t mind it all that much. After my 7 mile tempo run this past week, I was in serious IT band pain. It was so bad I couldn’t even put weight on my leg without pain. That hasn’t happened all training. But it happens when I revisit the old run routes? Why? When I was out there I started feeling a twinge and noted the bevel in the road. I thought to myself, ugh, this is kind of annoying. Hope this doesn’t affect me. And then the next day I was throwing back Motrin all day long and had to cut my next run short.

I think the roads hurt my IT band. So if I was going to have to run 20 miles on the treadmill today, that’s fine with me. The treadmill is softer and flatter. Plus it would be easy for me to stop running if the pain flared up.

The whole run went basically well. No IT band pain (YES!!), no fitness issues, slight knee pain at the front of my knee but no big deal, but then my feet began to ache. Just my body felt like it was taking a beating after the 16 mile point. I could have kept going to 20 but… I just didn’t feel like it. I was aching and I thought – this is stupid. Why am I continuing with pain? I was over it. I’m ok with 18. I don’t feel I would have gained anything more with those extra 2 miles. Actually it was more like 1.5 miles left but, again, I don’t care.

And for those of you who wonder – How many miles can I run on a treadmill? 18 miles seems to be the steady answer for me. Anything more than that and I really need off that thing. I listened to music. I watched parts of several different movies and shows. I was all over the place. Finally I just didn’t want anything else, except some stillness and food.

maple bacon gu

Oh and I tried out that Maple Bacon GU. I figured why not give it a go? It wasn’t as bad as you’d think. It wasn’t near as bad as that Chocolate GU. Yuck! The Maple Bacon tasted like maple syrup that had a smokey flavor infused with it. Not so much bacon flavor but smoked syrup maybe? I didn’t finish it. I switched over to the Mandarin Orange. Much better flavor.

Well we’re almost done with this all aren’t we guys?! I’m pretty nervous about adding 8 MILES to my longest run on race day, but at least it’s just going to be that one run and then a LOT of rest and relaxation afterwards. Well, at least for 2 weeks until Disney Marathon training starts. Ugh.